Colossians 1:5

5. for the hope] I.e. on account of the hope. “That blessed hope,” full of Christ, and the object of an intensely united expectation, gave special occasion, by its nature, for the exercise alike of the faith and the love just mentioned.

“Faith, love, hope,” thus appear together, as 1Co_13:13; 1Th_1:3; and cp. 1Pe_1:3; 1Pe_1:5; 1Pe_1:22. Lightfoot compares also Polycarp, Ep. to the Philippians, c. 3: “Faith, which is the mother of us all, followed by hope, whose precursor is love.” See Lightfoot’s note on that place (Apost. Fathers, Pt. ii. vol. ii. sect. ii. p. 911).—The interaction of the three great graces has many different aspects. Faith, which alone accepts Christ, and so unites us to Him, is indeed the antecedent in the deepest sense to both the others, and their abiding basis. But in the experience of the life and walk of grace, faith itself may be stimulated by either or both of the sister-graces; and so on.

Meanwhile “hope” here, strictly speaking, is not the subjective grace but its glorious object, the Return of the exalted Lord to receive His people to Himself. See e.g. Php_3:20, with our note; Tit_2:13; 1Pe_1:4-7; Rev_22:20.

laid up for you in heaven] See for a close parallel, 1Pe_1:4; and cp. Heb_11:16; Heb_13:14.

“In heaven:”—lit., in the heavens; as often in N.T. On this plural see our note on Eph_4:10. The hope is “laid up” there, because He who is its Essence (1Ti_1:1; cp. below Col_1:27) is there, “sitting at the right hand of God” (below, Col_3:1); and our final enjoyment of it, whatever the details of locality may prove to be, whatever e.g. be the destiny of this earth with regard to the abode of the Blessed, will take place under the full manifestation of His presence in heavenly glory. See our Lord’s own words, Mat_6:20-21; Luk_12:34; Luk_18:22; Joh_14:3; Joh_17:24.

ye heard before] He might have said simply, “ye heard.” But the expression “seems intended to contrast their earlier with their later lessons—the true Gospel of Epaphras with the false gospel of their recent teachers” (Lightfoot). On that “false gospel” see below, on Col_2:8, etc., and Introd., ch. 4.

the truth of the gospel] Not merely “the true Gospel,” but that holy and mighty Truth, “Jesus and the Resurrection” (Act_17:18), which is the basis and the characteristic of the one Gospel. The rivals of that Gospel could produce on the contrary only arbitrary assertions and a priori speculations, the cloud of a theory of existence and of observance instead of the rock of Jesus Christ.

The word “Gospel” (euangelion) occurs more than 60 times in St Paul’s writings and addresses; elsewhere, 12 times in SS. Matthew and Mark together, once in the Acts, once in St Peter, once in the Revelation.—The expositor must never forget its true meaning; “good tidings.” Paradoxically but truly it has been said that the Gospel as such contains no precepts and no threatenings, though deeply and vitally related to Divine law and judgment. Its burthen is Jesus Christ as our perfect Peace, Life, and Hope, with a Divine welcome in His name to sinful man, believing.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col_1:5

For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.

This is

I. A very marvellous hope.

1. If we consider that it is a great act of grace that sinners should have a hope at all, there was a time when we were without Christ, having no hope. We had many false hopes, little will-o-the-wisps, which danced before us, deceived us, and led us into the bogs of presumption and error. Each time we tried to rely on good works, outward ceremonies, and good resolutions, we were disappointed anew. Now, sinners though we be, we have a hope.

2. More marvellous still that our hope should be associated with heaven. It seems almost presumptuous for a sinner who so richly deserves hell even to lift up his eyes towards heaven. He might have some hope of purgatory, if there were such a place, but is not the hope of heaven too much? Yet we have no fear of hell or purgatory. Heaven awaits all believers. Not that we shall have a glance at it; we shall have it and be in it.

3. Still more marvellous, it is so substantial. Paul seems hardly to be speaking of the grace of hope, since that dwells in our bosoms, but rather the object, but not exclusively, because that which is laid up in heaven is not a hope, except to those who hope for it. The hope, then, is so substantial that Paul speaks of it as though it were the thing itself. A man may have hope of wealth, but that is a very different thing from being wealthy; and of old age, and yet not reach middle life; but this Divine hope can never be disappointed.

4. Because it is the subject of Divine revelation. No man could have invented it. The prince of dreamers could not have imagined it, nor the master of logic inferred it. The word of the truth of the gospel has opened a window in heaven, and bidden us look on our own.

5. Inasmuch as it came to us by hearing, Whereof ye heard, not by working, deserving, penance, and sacrifice. We heard that the pierced hand of Jesus had opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers, and we believed. Will we not prize to the uttermost the sacred word which has brought us such a hope?

6. Because the substance of it is most extraordinary.

(1) It is the hope of victory, for we shall overcome every foe;

(2) of perfection, for we shall be like Christ;

(3) of security from every danger, for no temporal evil shall come near us, no mental evil intrude upon us, no spiritual enemy assail us;

(4) of perfect rest, which shall be consistent with continual service, for, like the angels, we shall rest on the wing--no weary limb or fevered brain shall follow us;

(5) of happiness beyond compare;

(6) of everlasting fellowship with Christ.

II. A most secure hope.

1. Because it is laid up. Bank calamities make business men very careful where they lay up their treasures, but there is no room for anxiety for what God takes under His charge. Laid up, hidden in a safe place. We find it hard to lay up our valuables safely.

2. Laid up for you. There is a crown in heaven which will never be worn by any other head but yours.

3. Laid up in heaven, where, as our Saviour says--

(1) Neither moth nor rust doth corrupt--no process of decay will cause your treasure to become stale and worn out.

(2) Nor do thieves break through and steal. We cannot imagine Satan undermining the bastions of heaven. If your hope lies in the bank, it may break; if in an empire, it may melt away; if in an estate, the deeds may be questioned; if in any human creature, death may bereave you; if in yourself, it is deceitful altogether.

4. We have one indisputable certificate and guarantee for it. Notice three emphatic words.

(1) In the word. We take a good mans words freely; and will we not take Gods word much more readily?

(2) Of the truth. It is not a word of guess or probable inference, but of infallible truth. There may be other true things in the world, but Gods word is the essence of truth.

(3) Of the gospel. The sum and substance of the good news is this glorious hope.

III. A powerfully influential hope.

1. It is the parent and nurse of love. The love which ye have to all saints for the hope, etc, That is no trifling fountain of action which leads believing hearts to love,

2. Love is part of its operation on ourselves, but it affects others also.

(1) It leads ministers and gracious people to give thanks to God;

(2) to pray (Col_1:9). (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The heavenly hope

I. There is given to man a prospect of future good. The apostle here speaks about a hope. Hope is the expectation of future good. There is no being who is not the subject of hope. We are not content to exercise this passion merely in reference to objects which are on this side the grave. We all think of the state into which we expect to remove. Man would fain live for ever; futurity rises on the soul; and hope implants the high desire of enjoying it. This hope is inspired by the goodness of the God who formed us; He has been pleased to grant us a knowledge by which our hopes may be confirmed and conducted to their final goal in heaven. A beautiful vista of enjoyment is opened before us, exactly corresponding with our views and wishes. Hope is the balm of life; and but for it life would be but a dreadful dungeon, and we should sink into all the horrors of despair. Now, look on the future; survey the landscape which revelation has sketched out. There are the many mansions in which God the Father, His Son, His people reside. These are the beautiful similitudes which are employed to inspire our hopes. They are abodes of purity; they are the abodes of knowledge. There we shall know even as we are known. They are abodes of triumph; they are the abodes of blessed companionship. There we come to God, to Jesus, to the spirits of the just made perfect. They are the abodes of life and immortality.

II. Certain requisites are necessary for participating in that prospect. Hope is founded on faith; and we must believe before we can hope for the enjoyment of heaven.

1. There must be faith in the declarations of God by which the nature of these prospects is disclosed. No man can hope for that in which he does not believe. There must be faith, else all this beautiful scenery will only be like the work of fancy or falsehood.

2. Faith in the method of mercy revealed by God as the only way through which a participation in these prospects can be enjoyed. God has not only revealed these prospects, but also the way to the enjoyment of them.

III. The prospect of future good rests on the most firm and inviolable security. It is said to be laid up. The apostle uses the same expression, There is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. In Heb_9:27 the same word is rendered appointed. It is a thing granted on a firm and imperishable security. How different, then, is it from the hopes of earth. Here the object is as certain as if you grasped it in your hand.

1. It rests on the authority of the Word of God. Let it be assumed that the author of your hope is God. Did He ever inspire hope, and plunge into despair? Did He ever erect a building which He will not protect? Has He not power? Is He not wise? Is He destitute of goodness? My counsel shall stand, and will do all My pleasure.

2. The word of God is ratified by the work of the Redeemer. All the work of Christ is to give firmness to what God has sworn. All the promises of God in Christ Jesus are yea, and in Him amen. The death of Christ does its part, as it is the sacrifice by which the curse is taken away. The resurrection of Christ is the testimony that the atonement is accepted. The present residence of the Saviour is another foundation on which this hope rests. I go to prepare a place for you. Jesus the forerunner hath entered in.

IV. These prospects, when enjoyed and possessed, must produce the most powerful influence on the heart.

1. It excites to moral purity and holiness of life. You hope to enter heaven. Heaven is a holy place. God is holy. The inhabitants are holy. All their praises centre in this perfection. You must be holy in heaven; and will you not be so here? Every one that hath this hope purifieth himself as He is pure.

2. It produces calmness and peace amidst the troubles and trials of the world. The man who has so good a hope of heaven need not grudge to encounter a few troubles on earth.

3. It gives confidence amid the approaches of decay and dissolution. This is the hope which is laid up for Christians in heaven! It is a good hope, a lively hope, a sweet hope--a hope which makes the coward bold, a hope which bears above the world, etc. But is it mine? (J. Parsons.)

Hope laid up in heaven

What is this hope but the glorious life we look for? Now, where should the life of the branches of a tree be kept but where the root is? So where should our glorious life be hid but where Christ, the root of us all, is with him? Yea, this is most meet and behoveful for us. If an Englishman should sojourn in France a while, and had great treasure to receive, would he not choose rather to have it paid him at the Exchange in his own country than to have it there, far from his home, and stand to the hazard of transporting of it? So it fareth with us. It is safer that our wealth should be paid us in heaven, our own country, than here where we are but strangers wayfaring for a season. (P. Bayne, B. D.)

Christian hope

Our hope is not hung upon such an untwisted thread as I imagine so, or It is likely; but the cable, the strong rope of our fastened anchor, is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity; our salvation is fastened with Gods own hand, and Christs own strength, to the strong stake of Gods unchangeable nature. (S. Rutherford.)

Col_1:5-6

The word of the truth of the gospel which is come unto you.

The argument for the gospel based on the triumphs of missions

I. Think of the gospel as it affords inspiration to disseminate itself. Christianity is the religion of universal man. It recognizes no exception.

1. The principles of the kingdom of Jesus Christ are themselves universal. They deal with conditions which belong to all men. They impose rules which all can obey. They grant their privileges without distinction. The sin they would destroy is the sin of all men. The salvation they illustrate is offered to every child of Adam. Christ indicated this universality by explicit declaration in the conversation with Nicodemus, the parables of the kingdom, and the great commission. This idea was fully gained by the apostles. Not at first, although Peter touched it in his address to Cornelius; but Paul fully developed it. Is not this in itself unique? Has it not such a supreme character that it at least suggests the idea of a Divine origin? Why should it belong to Christianity alone?

2. But this universalism is much more than an intellectual idea. It is a vital and energizing force. It propagates itself. The moment a man becomes a Christian he is filled with a desire that others should be Christians.

3. Hence we find two facts in the history of the Church--its aggressive character, and its exclusive relation to all other faiths. The Roman pantheon included all the gods of the nations conquered by Rome, and would have welcomed Christ, but He would not enter it. He demanded the extrusion of every other divinity; His altar alone could receive the sacrifices of a worshipping world. And it is still so. Christianity brooks no other faith. Is not this a noteworthy fact? Whence has it come?

4. It is in modern missions that we may find the practical illustration of this universalism and its most effective illustration.

II. Think of the unselfish spirit in which this attempt to win a world has been projected and carried out.

1. The mere desire for imperial sway over an entire race may of itself be no very Divine emotion. Many have experienced it, and it has proved to be a spawn of hell rather than a birth of heaven--Nimrod, Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon. But this is not the spirit that animates the modern herald of the Cross. He seeks no personal glory, his gains are small, his comforts few; with no weapons but a book, the name of Jesus, and a holy life, he moves to the victory of a world.

2. I know all that can be said about the restless spirit, love of adventure, desire to escape the dulness of average home life, and the glamour of missionary fame. But these emotions are fleeting, and perish if there be no recognition in places of note, and wither before old age. But this is not the experience of missionaries. It is nearly a century since evangelical missions were started, but the spirit is as fresh as ever. If the romance has disappeared, it has been replaced by a greater devotion, and a wiser, because more experienced, energy. What is the earthly fame the missionary gains? Mention half a dozen names out of hundreds of thousands which the world signalizes. What his wealth? Scarce a pittance for old age. What does a thoughtful inquirer make of this system which begets such a quality of moral nature, which summons to its work such a noble spirit? Does it not suggest that God must be the author of the truth these men carry forth, and the inspirer of the sentiment with which they do their work?

III. Think of the marvellous force which the gospel has manifested in its spread through the world.

1. We are not considering the advance of a nation which is extending its government, arms, commerce, language, or tracing the progress of a trade, science, or any other force which spends itself on our physical existence, and may minister to the baser side of our nature. We are estimating the power of a force which comes to each man personally, and demands thought, obedience, self-conquest, and the dissolution, it may be, of bonds which hold him to his past, his family, and his interest. There is nothing like it. It is the only moral propagander of the world.

2. And yet what victories it has gained. Napoleon confessed that his paled before them.: But putting aside the past gains of the gospel, its victories over Jewish faith, Greek philosophy, Roman law, its contest with Islam, and its conquest of Europe, consider its modern achievements. Modern missions found the South Sea Islands the home of naked savages; to-day they are for the most part civilized, and reckoned among the nations. Think of what it has done in Madagascar, and what it is doing in India, China, Japan. Wherever we turn we find the missionary. He has created written languages, clothed the naked, changed the savage into a saint, made lands safe for the trader, freed the slave, dec.

IV. Think of the adaptation to the wants of man which the gospel has exhibited in its spread throughout the world. It has proved itself to be exactly what all men want, and what they could readily accept.

1. How varied are the climes into which it has been carried, but it breathes every air, and finds each as if its native breath.

2. All colours are alike to the gospel.

3. Age makes no difference, and culture renders it neither needless nor ineffectual.

4. No nation outgrows it.

5. It presents a point at which all can unite. It has realized the unity and brotherhood of the race. There is an old Arabic proverb which declares that Islam can flourish only where the palm tree grows, but the Tree of Life is planted in every soil, and blossoms all over the world. What can be the answer of a thoughtful mind to such facts as these? (Ll. D. Bevan, D. D.)

The perennial fruitfulness of the gospel

The gospel is not like those plants which exhaust themselves in bearing fruit, and wither away. The external growth keeps pace with the reproductive energy. While beareth fruit describes the inner working, increasing gives the outward extension of the gospel. The words and increasing are not found in the received text, but the authority in their favour is overwhelming. (Bishop Lightfoot.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(We give thanks) because of the hope which is laid up for you in the heavens (Col_3:4; Eph_1:12-14; Php_3:20, 21; Rom_8:18-25 1Co_15:50-58; 2Co_5:1-5; 1Th_4:13-17; 1Pe_1:3-5; Mat_6:20 Mat_19:21; Luk_12:33; Joh_14:2, Joh_14:3) "Hope" is objective matter of hope, as in Gal_5:5; Tit_2:13; Heb_6:18. St. Paul speaks most of heaven and heavenly things in the letters of this period. Ver. 4 gives the nearest grammatical connection for this clause; and many recent commentators, following Greek interpreters, accordingly find here that which "evokes and conditions" the Colossians" "love" (Meyer, Ellicott) or "faith and love" (De Wette, Lightfoot). But this construction we reject. For it makes the heavenly reward the reason of the Colossians" present (faith and) love, reversing the true and Pauline order of thought. (Rom_5:1-5 Rom_8:28-39 Rom_15:13; Eph_1:13; comp.; 1Jn_4:17, 1Jn_4:18) while, on the other hand, the heavenly hope is the last and highest ground of the apostle"s thanksgivings and encouragements, and the forfeiture or impairing of it the chief matter of his fears and warnings throughout the Epistles of this group (Col_1:12, Col_1:22, Col_1:23, Col_1:27, 28 2:18 3:4, 24; Eph_1:13, 14 2:12; Gal_1:6-9 Gal_4:4; Php_1:6 2:16 3:11-21: comp. 1Pe_1:3, 1Pe_1:4) It is better, therefore, with Bengel, Hofmann, Klopper, Conybeare, Eadie, and others, from Athanasius downwards, to refer ver. 5 as well as ver. 4 to the principal verb, "we give thanks" (ver. 3). What the apostle hears of "the faith and love" of the Colossian brethren moves him to give thanks for "the hope which is in store for them in heaven." Of that hope this faith and love are to him a pledge and an earnest, even as the "seal of the Spirit" (Eph_1:14) and the "peace of Christ in their hearts" (Col_3:15; see note) are to themselves. Similarly, in Php_1:27, 28 and 2Th_1:4, 2Th_1:5, from the present faith and patience of the saints the certainty of their future blessedness is argued. By singling out this hope as chief matter of thanksgiving here, the apostle enhances its certainty and its value in his readers" eyes. (On this verse, see the Expositor, first series, vol. 10. pp. 7480.) From the general occasion and ground of his thanksgiving in the Christian state and prospects of his readers, St. Paul proceeds to dwell on certain special circumstances which enhanced his gratitude to God (vers. 56-8). Which (hope) ye heard of before, in the word of the truth of the gospel; or, good tidings (vers. 7, 23; Col_2:7; Eph_1:13 Eph_4:15, Eph_4:21; Gal_1:6-9 Gal_3:1-4 Gal_4:9 Gal_5:7; 1Th_1:5 1Th_2:13 1Th_4:1; 2Th_2:13-15; 1Pe_5:12) There is a veiled polemic reference in "the word of the truth of the gospel" (comp. ver. 7 and parallels from Galatians). The word "before" (aforetime) "contrasts their earlier with their later lessons, the true gospel of Epaphras with the false gospel of recent teachers" (Lightfoot). Others interpret, less suitably: heard already (before my writing), or heard beforehand (before the fulfilment of the hope). It is in St. Paul"s manner to refer his readers at the outset to their conversion and first Christian experiences (see parallel passages). Their hope was directly at stake in the controversy with Colossian error. Here we meet the first of those cumulative combinations of nouns, so marked a feature of the style of Colossians and Ephesians, which are made a reproach against these Epistles by some critics; but each is appropriate in its place.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Colossians

THE GOSPEL-HOPE

Col 1:5.

‘God never sends mouths but He sends meat to feed them,’ says the old proverb. And yet it seems as if that were scarcely true in regard to that strange faculty called Hope. It may well be a question whether on the whole it has given us more pleasure than pain. How seldom it has been a true prophet! How perpetually its pictures have been too highly coloured! It has cast illusions over the future, colouring the far-off hills with glorious purple which, reached, are barren rocks and cold snow. It has held out prizes never won. It has made us toil and struggle and aspire and fed us on empty husks. Either we have not got what we expected or have found it to be less good than it appeared from afar.

If we think of all the lies that hope has told us, of all the vain expenditure of effort to which it has tempted us, of the little that any of us have of what we began by thinking we should surely attain, hope seems a questionable good, and yet how obstinate it is, living on after all disappointments and drawing the oldest amongst us onwards. Surely somewhere there must be a reason for this great and in some respects awful faculty, a vindication of its existence in an adequate object for its grasp.

The New Testament has much to say about hope. Christianity lays hold of it and professes to supply it with its true nourishment and support. Let us look at the characteristics of Christian hope, or, as our text calls it, the hope of the Gospel, that is, the hope which the Gospel creates and feeds in our souls.

I. What does it hope for?

The weakness of our earthly hopes is that they are fixed on things which are contingent and are inadequate to make us blessed. Even when tinted with the rainbow hues, which it lends them, they are poor and small. How much more so when seen in the plain colourless light of common day. In contrast with these the objects of the Christian hope are certain and sufficient for all blessedness. In the most general terms they may be stated as ‘That blessed hope, even the appearing of the Great God and our Saviour.’ That is the specific Christian hope, precise and definite, a real historical event, filling the future with a certain steadfast light. Much is lost in the daily experience of all believers by the failure to set that great and precise hope in its true place of prominence. It is often discredited by millenarian dreams, but altogether apart from these it has solidity and substance enough to bear the whole weight of a world rested upon it.

That appearance of God brings with it the fulfilment of our highest hopes in the ‘grace that is to be brought to us at His appearing.’ All our blessedness of every kind is to be the result of the manifestation of God in His unobscured glory. The mirrors that are set round the fountain of light flash into hitherto undreamed-of brightness. It is but a variation in terms when we describe the blessedness which is to be the result of God’s appearing as being the Hope of Salvation in its fullest sense, or, in still other words, as being the Hope of Eternal Life. Nothing short of the great word of the Apostle John, that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, exhausts the greatness of the hope which the humblest and weakest Christian is not only allowed but commanded to cherish. And that great future is certainly capable of, and in Scripture receives, a still more detailed specification. We hear, for example, of the hope of Resurrection, and it is most natural that the bodily redemption which Paul calls the adoption of the body should first emerge into distinct consciousness as the principal object of hope in the earliest Christian experience, and that the mighty working whereby Jesus is able to subdue all things unto Himself, should first of all be discerned to operate in changing the body of our humiliation into the body of His glory.

But equally natural was it that no merely corporeal transformation should suffice to meet the deep longings of Christian souls which had learned to entertain the wondrous thought of likeness to God as the certain result of the vision of Him, and so believers ‘wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.’ The moral likeness to God, the perfecting of our nature into His image, will not always be the issue of struggle and restraint, but in its highest form will follow on sight, even as here and now it is to be won by faith, and is more surely attained by waiting than by effort.

The highest form which the object of our hope takes is, the Hope of the Glory of God. This goes furthest; there is nothing beyond this. The eyes that have been wearied by looking at many fading gleams and seen them die away, may look undazzled into the central brightness, and we may be sure that even we shall walk there like the men in the furnace, unconsumed, purging our sight at the fountain of radiance, and being ourselves glorious with the image of God. This is the crown of glory which He has promised to them that love Him. Nothing less than this is what our hope has to entertain, and that not as a possibility, but as a certainty. The language of Christian hope is not perhaps this may be, but verily it shall be. To embrace its transcendent certainties with a tremulous faith broken by much unbelief, is sin.

II. The grounds on which the hope of the Gospel rests.

The grounds of our earthly hopes are for the most part possibilities, or, at the best, probabilities turned by our wishes into certainties. We moor our ships to floating islands which we resolve to think continents. So our earthly hopes vary indefinitely in firmness and substance. They are sometimes but wishes turned confident, and can never rise higher than their source, or be more certain than it is. At the best they are building on sand. At the surest there is an element of risk in them. One singer indeed may take for his theme ‘The pleasures of Hope,’ but another answers by singing of ‘The fallacies of Hope.’ Earth-born hopes carry no anchor and have always a latent dread looking out of their blue eyes.

But it is possible for us to dig down to and build on rock, to have a future as certain as our past, to escape in our anticipations from the region of the Contingent, and this we assuredly do when we take the hope of the Gospel for ours, and listen to Paul proclaiming to us ‘Christ which is our Hope,’ or ‘Christ in you the Hope of glory.’ If our faith grasps Jesus Christ risen from the dead and for us entered into the heavenly state as our forerunner, our hope will see in Him the pattern and the pledge of our manhood, and will begin to experience even here and now the first real though faint accomplishments of itself. The Gospel sets forth the facts concerning Christ which fully warrant and imperatively require our regarding Him as the perfect realised ideal of manhood as God meant it to be, and as bearing in Himself the power to make all men even as He is. He has entered into the fellowship of our humiliation and become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh that we might become life of His Life and spirit of His Spirit. As certain as it is that ‘we have borne the image of the earthy,’ so certain is it that ‘we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.’

What cruel waste of a divine faculty it is, then, of which we are all guilty when we allow our hopes to be frittered away and dissipated on uncertain and transient goods which they may never secure, and which, even if secured, would be ludicrously or rather tragically insufficient to make us blessed, instead of withdrawing them from all these and fixing them on Him who alone is able to satisfy our hungry souls in all their faculties for ever!

The hope of the Gospel is firm enough to rest our all upon because in it, by ‘two immutable things in which it is impossible that God should lie,’ His counsel and His oath, He has given strong encouragement to them who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. Well may the hope for which God’s own eternal character is the guarantee be called ‘sure and steadfast.’ The hope of the Gospel rests at last on the Being and Heart of God. It is that which God ‘who cannot lie hath promised before the world was’ is working towards whilst the world lasts, and will accomplish when the world is no more. He has made known His purpose and has pledged all the energies and tendernesses of His Being to its realisation. Surely on this rock-foundation we may rest secure. The hopes that grow on other soils creep along the surface. The hope of the Gospel strikes its roots deep into the heart of God.

III. What the hope of the Gospel is and does for us.

We cannot do better than to lay hold of some of the New Testament descriptions of it. We recall first that great designation ‘A good hope through grace.’ This hope is no illusion; it does not come from fumes of fancy or the play of imagination. The wish is not father to the thought. We do not make bricks without straw nor spin ropes of sand on the shore of the great waste sea that waits to swallow us up. The cup of Tantalus has had its leaks stopped; the sieve carries the treasure unspilled. The rock can be rolled to the hill-top. All the disappointments, fallacies, and torments of hope pass away. It never makes ashamed. We have a solid certainty as solid as memory. The hope which is through grace is the full assurance of hope, and that full assurance is just what every other hope lacks. In that region and in that region only we can either say I hope or I know.

Another designation is ‘A lively hope.’ It is no poor pale ghost brightening and fading, fading and brightening, through which one can see the stars shine, and of little power in practical life, but strong and vigorous and not the least active amongst the many forces that make up the sum of our lives.

It is most significantly designated as ‘The blessed hope.’ All others quickly pass into sorrows. This alone gives lasting joys, for this alone is blessed whilst it is only anticipation, and still more blessed when its blossoms ripen into full fruition. In all earthly hopes there is an element of unrest, but the hope of the Gospel is so remote, so certain, and so satisfying, that it works stillness, and they who most firmly grasp it ‘do with patience wait for it.’ Earthly hopes have little moral effect and often loosen the sinews of the soul, and are distinctly unfavourable to all strenuous effort. But ‘every man that hath this hope in Jesus purifieth himself even as He is pure,’ and the Apostle, whose keen insight most surely discerns the character-building value of the fundamental facts of Christian experience, was not wrong when he bid us find in the hope of the Gospel deeply rooted within us the driving force of the most strenuous efforts after purity like His whom it is our deepest desire and humble hope to become like.

Let us remember the double account which Scripture gives of the discipline by which the hope of the Gospel is won for our very own. On the one hand, we have ‘joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope.’ Our faith breeds hope because it grasps the divine facts concerning Jesus from which hope springs. And faith further breeds hope because it kindles joy and peace, which are the foretastes and earnests of the future blessedness. On the other hand, the very opposite experiences work to the same end, for ‘tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.’ Sorrow rightly borne tests for us the power of the Gospel and the reality of our faith, and so gives us a firmer grip of hope and of Him on whom in the last result it all depends. Out of this collision of flint and steel the spark springs. The water churned into foam and tortured in the cataract has the fair bow bending above it.

But this discipline will not achieve its result, therefore comes the exhortation to us all, ‘Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end.’ The hope of the Gospel is the one thing that we need. Without it all else is futile and frail. God alone is worthy to have the whole weight and burden of a creature’s hope fixed on Him, and it is an everlasting truth that they who are ‘without God in the world’ also ‘have no hope.’ Saints of old held fast by an assurance, which they must often have felt left many questions still to be asked, and because they were sure that they were continually with Him, were also sure of His guidance through life and of His afterwards receiving them to glory. But for us the twilight has broadened into day, and we shall be wise if, knowing our defencelessness, and forsaking all the lies and illusions of this vain present, we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us in the Gospel.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:5 The Colossian Christians’ confident hope gives them a secure foundation for their faith and love (1:4). • What God has reserved for believers has not yet been fully revealed, but it already exists in heaven.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Col 1:5. Διὰ, for) From [the greatness of the object of] hope, it is evident how great a cause of thanksgiving there is for the gift of faith and love; for (διά) is construed with we give thanks, Col 1:3. [Faith, hope, love, Col 1:4-5, the sum of Christianity. Comp. Col 1:9-11.—V. g.]—ἀποκειμένην, laid up) so as to be without danger [of its being lost].—ἣν, which) hope, comp. Col 1:23.—προηκούσατε) ye have heard of, before I wrote.—ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς αληθείας, in the word of the truth) Eph 1:13. The truth of ‘knowledge,’ Col 1:6 [ye—knew—the grace of God], corresponds to the truth of preaching in this verse. Neither admits of artifice (being tricked out for show).

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col_1:5. Διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα κ.τ.λ.] on account of the hope, etc., does not belong to εὐχαρ. Col_1:3 (Bengel, ex spe patet, quanta sit causa gratias agendi pro dono fidei et amoris; comp. Bullinger, Zanchius, Calovius, Elsner, Michaelis, Zachariae, Storr, Rosenmüller, Hofmann, and others), because the ground for the apostolic thanksgiving at the beginnings of the Epistles, as also here at Col_1:4, always consists in the Christian character of the readers (Rom_1:8; 1Co_1:4 ff.; Eph_1:15; Php_1:5; 1Th_1:3; 2Th_1:3; 2Ti_1:5; Phm_1:5), and that indeed as a ground in itself,[12] and therefore not merely on account of what one has in future to hope from it; and, moreover, because εὐχαριστεῖν with ΔΙΆ and the accusative does not occur anywhere in the N. T. It is connected with ἫΝ ἜΧΕΤΕ Κ.Τ.Λ., and thus specifies the motive ground of the love; for love guarantees the realization of the salvation hoped for. So correctly, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Erasmus, Calvin, Estius, Steiger, Bleek, and others. The more faith is active through love, the richer one becomes εἰς Θεόν (Luk_12:21), and this riches forms the contents of hope. He who does not love remains subject to death (1Jn_3:14), and his faith profits him nothing (1Co_13:1-3). It is erroneous to refer it jointly to πίστις, so as to make the hope appear here as ground of the faith and the love; so Grotius and others, including Bähr, Olshausen, and de Wette; comp. Baumgarten-Crusius and Ewald. For ἣν ἔχετε (or the Rec. τήν) indicates a further statement merely as regards ΤῊΝ ἈΓΆΠΗΝ; and with this accords the close of the whole outburst, which in Col_1:8 emphatically reverts to ΤῊΝ ὙΜῶΝ ἈΓΆΠΗΝ.

The ἘΛΠΊς is here conceived objectively (comp. ἐλπ. βλεπομένη, Rom_8:24): our hope as to its objective contents, that which we hope for. Comp. Job_6:8; 2Ma_7:14, and see on Rom_8:24 and Gal_5:5; Zöckler, de vi ac notione voc. ἐλπίς, Giss. 1856, p. 26 ff.

ΤῊΝ ἈΠΟΚΕΙΜ. ὙΜῖΝ ἘΝ Τ. ΟὐΡ.] What is meant is the Messianic salvation forming the contents of the hope (1Th_5:8; Rom_5:2; Rom_8:18 ff.; Col_3:3 f.), which remains deposited, that is, preserved, laid up (Luk_19:20), in heaven for the Christian until the Parousia, in order to be then given to him.[13] On ἀποκ. comp. 2Ti_4:8; 2Ma_12:45; Kypke, II. p. 320 f.; Loesner, p. 360; Jacobs, ad Ach. Tat. p. 678. Used of death, Heb_9:27; of punishments, Plat. Locr. p. 104 D, 4Ma_8:10. As to the idea, comp. the conception of the treasure in heaven (Mat_6:20; Mat_19:21; 1Ti_6:19), of the reward in heaven (see on Mat_5:12), of the πολίτευμα in heaven (see on Php_3:20), of the κληρονομία τετηρημένη ἐν οὐραν. (1Pe_1:4), and of the βραβεῖον τῆς ἄνω κλήσεως (Php_3:14).

ἣν προηκούσατε κ.τ.λ.] Certainty of this hope, which is not an unwarranted subjective fancy, but is objectively conveyed to them through the word of truth previously announced. The πρό in προηκούσατε (Herod, viii. 79; Plat. Legg vii. p. 797 A; Xen. Mem. ii. 4. 7; Dem. 759. 26, 955. 1; Joseph. Antt. viii. 12. 3) does not denote already formerly, whereby Paul premises se nihil allaturum novi (Calvin and many), but must be said with reference to the future, to which the hope belongs; hence the sense imported by Ewald: where with the word of truth began among you (Mar_1:15), is the less admissible. The conception is rather, that the contents of the ἐλπίς, the heavenly salvation, is the great future blessing, the infallible pre-announcement of which they have heard. As previously announced, it is also previously heard.

τῆς ἀληθείας is the contents of the λόγος (comp. on Eph_1:13); and by τοῦ εὐαγ., the ἀλήθεια, that is, the absolute truth, is specifically defined as that of the gospel, that is, as that which is announced in the gospel. Both genitives are therefore to be left in their substantive form (Erasmus, Heinrichs, Baumgarten-Crusius, and many others understand τῆς ἀληθ. as adjectival: sermo verax; comp. on the contrary, on ἀλήθ. τοῦ εὐαγγ., Gal_2:5; Gal_2:14), so that the expression advances to greater definiteness. The circumstantiality has something solemn about it (comp. 2Co_9:4); but this is arbitrarily done away, if we regard τοῦ εὐαγγ. as the genitive of apposition to τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθ. (Calvin, Beza, and many others, including Flatt, Bähr, Steiger, Böhmer, Huther, Olshausen, de Wette, Hofmann); following Eph_1:13, Paul would have written τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ.

[12] In opposition to the view of Hofmann, that Paul names the reason why the news of the faith and love of the readers had become to him a cause of thanksgiving.

[13] It is erroneous to say that the Parousia no longer occurs in our Epistle. It is the substratum of the ἐλπὶς ἀποκ. ἐν τ. οὐρ. Comp. Col_3:1 ff. (in opposition to Mayerhoff, and Holtzmann, p. 203 f.).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Col 1:5 . διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα . This is connected by Bengel, followed by several recent commentators (Hofm., Kl [2] , Ol., Haupt, Weiss, Abb.), with εὐχαριστοῦμεν . Having heard of their faith and love, Paul gives thanks for the hope laid up for them in heaven. Lightfoot and Soden urge that in this way the triad of Christian graces, faith, hope and love, is broken up. But “hope” is objective here, not the grace of hope, but the object of that hope. It is true that Paul glides from the subjective to the objective use of ἐλπίς in Rom 8:24 , but if this combination had been intended here he would probably have simply co-ordinated the three terms. A more serious objection is that εὐχαριστ . is so far away, though Haupt urges that διὰ τ . ἐλπ . could not have come in earlier. Further, Paul never uses this constr. εὐχαριστ . διὰ . It is also his custom, at the beginning of his Epistles, to give thanks for the Christian character of his readers (which he hardly does in Col 1:4 ), not for the heavenly reward that awaits them. Others (De W., Lightf., Sod.) connect it with τ . πίστιν … καὶ τ . ἀγάπην . This gives a good sense, their faith and love have their ground in their hope of reward. But we should have expected the article before a clause thus added to substantives. It is simplest to refer it to τὴν ἀγ . ἣν ἔχετε (Chrys., Mey., Ell., Alf., Franke), and interpret it of the love which is due to the hope of a heavenly reward. It is urged that a love of this calculating kind is foreign to Paul, but Cf. 2Co 9:6 , Gal 6:9 . ἐν τ . οὐρανοῖς . Cf. the reward or treasure in heaven (Mat 5:12 ; Mat 6:20 ; Mat 19:21 ), the citizenship in heaven (Phi 3:20 ), the inheritance reserved in heaven (1Pe 1:4 ). ἣν προηκούσατε . The reference in προ . is disputed. Bengel and Klöpper think it means before the writing of this letter; Meyer, Hofmann and Haupt before its fulfilment. But more probably it is to be taken of their first hearing of the Gospel (so Lightf., Ol., Abb.), perhaps in tacit contrast to the false teaching they had recently heard. Haupt, it is true, denies that there is any reference to the false teachers in Col 1:2-8 ; but though none can be proved, it is surely probable that the turn of several expressions should be determined by the subject which was uppermost in the Apostle’s mind, and that he should thus prepare his readers for the direct attack. λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου . Cf. Eph 1:13 , according to which τ . εὐαγγ . should be taken as in apposition to λόγ . τ . ἀλ ., “the word of truth, even the Gospel,” though it is often explained as the word of truth announced in the Gospel. It is not clear what λόγ . τ . ἀλ . means. Several give the genitive an adjectival force, “the true word,” but more probably it expresses the content, the word which contains the truth. Perhaps here also there is a side-thrust at the false teachers.

[2] Klöpper.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the glory that is hoped for.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

For--to be joined with the words immediately preceding: "The love which ye have to all the saints because of (literally, 'on account of') the hope," &c. The hope of eternal life will never be in us an inactive principle but will always produce "love." This passage is abused by Romanists, as if the hope of salvation depended upon works. A false argument. It does not follow that our hope is founded on our works because we are strongly stimulated to live well; since nothing is more effectual for this purpose than the sense of God's free grace [CALVIN].

laid up--a treasure laid up so as to be out of danger of being lost (Ti2 4:8). Faith, love, and hope (Col 1:4-5), comprise the sum of Christianity. Compare Col 1:23, "the hope of the Gospel."

in heaven--Greek, "in the heavens."

whereof ye heard before--namely, at the time when it was preached to you.

in the word, &c.--That "hope" formed part of "the word of the truth of the Gospel" (compare Eph 1:13), that is, part of the Gospel truth preached unto you.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5. For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven. For the hope of eternal life will never be inactive in us, so as not to produce love in us. For it is of necessity, that the man who is fully persuaded that a treasure of life is laid up for him in heaven will aspire thither, looking down upon this world. Meditation, however, upon the heavenly life stirs up our affections both to the worship of God, and to exercises of love. The Sophists pervert this passage for the purpose of extolling the merits of works, as if the hope of salvation depended on works. The reasoning, however, is futile. For it does not follow, that because hope stimulates us to aim at upright living, it is therefore founded upon works, inasmuch as nothing is more efficacious for this purpose than God’s unmerited goodness, which utterly overthrows all confidence in works.

There is, however, an instance of metonymy in the use of the term hope, as it is taken for the thing hoped for. For the hope that is in our hearts is the glory which we hope for in heaven. At the same time, when he says, that there is a hope that is laid up for us in heaven, he means, that believers ought to feel assured as to the promise of eternal felicity, equally as though they had already a treasure laid up in a particular place.

Of which ye heard before. As eternal salvation is a thing that surpasses the comprehension of our understanding, he therefore adds, that the assurance of it had been brought to the Colossians by means of the gospel; and at the same time he says in the outset, that he is not to bring forward anything new, but that he has merely in view to confirm them in the doctrine which they had previously received. Erasmus has rendered — it the true word of the gospel. I am also well aware that, according to the Hebrew idiom, the genitive is often made use of by Paul in place of an epithet; but the words of Paul here are more emphatic. For he calls the gospel, καψ ἐξοχήν, (by way of eminence,) the word of truth, with the view of putting honor upon it, that they may more steadfastly and firmly adhere to the revelation which they have derived from that source. Thus the term gospel is introduced by way of apposition

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(5) For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.—The union of hope with faith and love is natural enough. Compare the fuller expression of 1Th_1:3, “your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope.” But the place assigned to hope in this passage is notable. “For the hope” is really “on account of the hope.” Hence faith and love are spoken of, not merely as leading up to hope, but as being actually kindled by it. Similarly in Eph_1:18 we find that, while faith and love are taken for granted, there is a special prayer that they may be enlightened “to know the hope of His calling” as the one thing yet needful. The prominence given to the thought of “the heavenly places” in the Epistles of the captivity, and therefore to Christ in heaven, even more than to Christ risen, is evident to any careful student. Accordingly, the hope, which is the instinct of perfection in man, and which becomes realisation of heaven in the Christian, naturally comes out with corresponding emphasis.

Ye heard before.—That is, at their first conversion. There is an implied warning against the new doctrines, which are more fully noticed in the next chapter.

The truth of the gospel.—This expression (as in Gal_2:14) is emphatic. It refers to the gospel, not chiefly as a message of graciousness and mercy, but rather as a revelation of eternal truths, itself changeless as the truth it reveals. There is a corresponding emphasis, but stronger still, in St. John. (See, for example, 1Jn_2:27; 1Jn_5:20; 2Jn_1:1-4; 3Jn_1:2-3.) The gospel was now winning its way to supremacy over civilised thought. Hence the need of warning against the sudden growth of wild speculations, contrasted with the unchanging simplicity of its main truths.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,.... These words may be considered either in connection with the foregoing, and express the reason or motive which encouraged these saints to believe in Christ, and to go on believing in him, and hold fast the profession of their faith in him, and to love the saints, and show it upon all occasions, and in every case; because of the rich treasure of glory and happiness in reserve for them in heaven, which they were hoping and waiting for; this encouraged their faith in Christ, and enlarged their love and beneficence to the saints: or else with the thanksgiving of the apostle, and so contains fresh matter of it, that as thanks were given for faith and love, so for "hope"; by which is meant, not the grace of hope, for that is not in heaven, though it enters within the vail, and is conversant with heavenly things, but is in the heart; and though it supposes it, and which these persons had; they were not without it; they had a good hope through grace of eternal glory, for faith, hope, and love, always go together: nor Christ the foundation of hope; there are many things in him, which are a ground of hope of happiness, as his sufferings, and death, and redemption thereby; his resurrection from the dead, his intercessions and preparations; the promise of life in him, and the thing itself being in his gift; his righteousness and grace, which, give a title to it, and meetness for it; and he is also in heaven, but then he cannot be said to be laid up there: but the thing hoped for, everlasting happiness, is intended; see Tit 2:13 Gal 5:5; which is so called, because it is the object of hope; is not yet possessed; is future; is not seen; is difficult, and yet possible to be enjoyed: this is said to be "laid up"; which denotes the preciousness and valuableness of it, it is a treasure, an inheritance, a kingdom, and riches of glory; and the secrecy and hiddenness of it, it consists of things invisible to the bodily eye, and which are out of the reach of carnal sense and reason, of which faith only has some small glimpse; and also the safety of it, it is hid in Christ, it is reserved "in heaven", and cannot be come at, and spoiled by men or devils; and likewise the free grace and goodness of God in laying up and providing things of such a nature for his children and friends: the place where it is, in heaven, where moth and rust corrupt not, and thieves cannot break through and steal; and so is safe, and must be of an heavenly nature, as it is for heavenly persons: "for you"; the saints and faithful brethren in Christ, for those who were chosen in Christ, for whom it was prepared from the foundation of the world; for this is not laid up for any, for everyone, but for the chosen of God, and precious; whom God has distinguished by his grace, Christ has redeemed by his blood, and the Spirit regenerates and sanctifies, and who have faith, hope, and love, given unto them; and this was not only laid up for them, but they knew of it, they were made acquainted with it:

whereof ye heard before; before the writing of this epistle, under the ministry of their faithful teacher Epaphras:

in the word of the truth of the Gospel; or in the true word of the Gospel; which comes from the God of truth, is indited by the Spirit of truth, is concerning Christ the truth, and which contains nothing but truth, and lies in the Scriptures of truth: or "in the word of truth", even the Gospel; which explains what word of truth is meant. The law is the word of truth; and many of the words of men, of the philosophers, were words of truth; but it was not in either of them they had heard of eternal life laid up in heaven; of which there were hopes to be entertained by sinful creatures, enjoying it through Christ: this is what only the Gospel brings an account of; life and immortality are only brought to light by the Gospel; which not only speaks of it, but lays that before men, which give them ground and encouragement to hope for it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

5 For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

Ver. 5. For the hope] It is hope (saith an interpreter here) that plucks up the heart of a man to a constant desire of union by faith with God and of communion by love with man. But by "hope" is here meant the "object of hope."

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven - That is, “I give thanks that there is such a hope laid up for you.” The evidence which he had that this hope was theirs, was founded on the faith and love to the saints which he heard they had evinced. He fully believed that where there was such faith and love, there was a well-founded hope of heaven. The word “hope” here is used, as it often is, for the thing hoped for. The object of hope - to wit, eternal happiness, was reserved for them in heaven.

Whereof ye heard before - When the gospel was first preached to you. You were told of the blessed rewards of a life of faith, in heaven.

In the word of the truth of the gospel - In the true word of the gospel.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven: hope here, in this description of it, seems chiefly by a metonymy to be put for the glorious eternal salvation hoped for, Rom 8:24; Eph 1:18 which may also include that lively grace whereby we lay hold of eternal life contained in the promise, Tit 1:2. This indeed is set before believers here to encourage them to fly unto Christ for refuge, Heb 6:18, and reserved in heaven for them, 1Pe 1:4; which may well quicken in Christian love all the members of Christ in every condition; yet not with a mercenary of affection, 2Co 5:14, as if any by offices of Christian love to brethren could merit what is laid up for those who exercise faith, love, and hope, but that God of his mere grace and undeserved love is pleased to reward such as diligently seek him, and thereby gives an exact evidence of his admirable liberality, Heb 11:6, which will abundantly weigh down those light afflictions they sustain here, 2Co 4:17.

Whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; hereupon he puts them in mind of the means whereby they attained to this good hope when they first embraced the gospel, viz. by hearing, Rom 10:14, the word of truth, eminently, 2Co 6:7; Eph 1:13; not only because it is the word of Jesus Christ, who is the truth, and the life, Joh 14:6, but because the gospel (which is here put appositively) is the most excellent of all truths, surpassing all in philosophy, and the law, Joh 1:17.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ye heard before - I wrote to you. In the word of truth, of the gospel - The true gospel preached to you.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Here, 1. St. Paul discovers the motive which excited the Colossians to such steadiness and constancy in the faith of Christ, and in love one to another; and that was the hope laid up for them in heaven; that is, the great and good things here hoped for, and there to be enjoyed.

As the sinners misery consists not in what he feels, but what he fears; so the believer’s happiness lies not in what he has in his hand, but in what he has in hope: the reward which encourages his perseverance in faith and love, is laid up in heaven; that is, safely and plentifully, as a parent lays up his treasures for the use of his children: It is both lawful and laudable then for Christians to have an eye to the promised reward, as an encouragement to duty, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.

Observe, 2. Ther means by which they came to the knowledge of this hope, it was by the word of truth, the preaching of the gospel to them by the ministry of Epaphras; this was so exceedingly blessed by God, that thereby the saving hope of this reward was wrought in them.

Where note, The title given to the gospel, it is eminently the word of truth, having Christ for its main subject, who is the way, the truth, and the life; and being confirmed by Christ the testator’s blood.

Note farther, That the preaching of this word of truth, the doctrine of the gospel, is the great instrumental mean, appointed by God for begetting in us a lively hope of the reward laid up for us in heaven; for the hope laid up for you in heaven, whereof you have heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.

Observe, 3. The commendation here given of the gospel, which had begot in these Colossians a lively hope of the heavenly reward:

It is commended, 1. For being one and the same gospel which was preached by the apostles throughout all the world, which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; that is, with incredible swiftness into the most eminent parts and places of the world then known; an infallible proof of the divinity of the gospel, that it was thus owned and blessed of God.

The gospel, at all times, and in all places, is one and the same; and Christ, when he pleases, can swiftly drive the chariot of the gospel round about the world, and bring in not only persons and familiers, but cities, nations, and kingdoms, to the obedience of it.

2. The gospel preached to them is commended for its fruitfulness, it bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you; that is, fruits of piety and holiness towards God, and fruits of righteousness and charity towards man.

Learn hence, That it is matter of praise, and unspeakable thanksgiving, to the ministers of Christ, when the light of the gospel breaks forth among a people, where it never befoe shined, and is accompanied with early and constant fruits of piety, humility, faith and love, in the hearts and lives of those to whom it is preached. The gospel bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day you heard of it, &c.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. For the hope. He gives thanks for their hope of heaven. Laid up. This suggests that they have a treasure laid up in heaven which they hope to use. Their treasure is above. Whereof ye heard before. They heard of this hope when the gospel was preached to them.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

5. διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα κ.τ.λ. This should be taken with the whole sentence from τὴν πίστιν onwards. Both the faith and the love of the Colossians are stated to be due to the news of the glorious future brought to them by the Gospel. We have thus the triple idea of faith, love, and hope (cf. 1Th 5:8-9). That hope is objective here causes but little difficulty, for it implies and includes the subjective meaning.

Observe that “hope” is given a much more important part in the N.T. than in our popular theology. To the heathen the good news of a real heaven, a blessed life after death, must have proved a special means of leading them to faith on Christ. Contrast Eph 2:12. Compare infra, Col 1:27. For the connexion of hope with faith compare 1Th 1:9-10.

τὴν ἀποκειμένην ὑμῖν, “the hope that is laid by for you,” Luk 19:20; 2Ti 4:8; Heb 9:27†. Frequently in the Classics of money put on one side so that it may be brought out in due course. Compare Luk 19:20, the talent in the napkin. In Deu 32:34 Symm. translates כָּמֻם† “laid up in store,” R.V., by ἀπόκειται. For reference to the glory reserved for the Christian cf. 2Ti 4:8, and the difficult passage, 2Ma 12:45. For the thought cf. also 1Pe 1:4.

ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, Col 1:16 note.

ἣν προηκούσατε† (not in LXX.). The frequent difficulty of correctly interpreting a word not in itself difficult may be seen here, where the value of the preposition in the compound verb has been understood in at least seven different ways. Of these only two appear to be worthy of mention: (1) It may mean “before exercising faith and love.” The words of the truth etc. contained the message of this “hope.” (2) More probably, however, it means “before you heard the later lessons of the false teachers,” cf. 23. See also the next note.

ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. Here only, though see Eph 1:13. But ἡ ἀλήθεια τ. εὐαγγ. occurs in Gal 2:5; Gal 2:14†, where it means the Gospel in its integrity as compared with Judaistic perversions of it. So also here St Paul probably is silently contrasting a false conception of the Gospel, cf. ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, Col 1:6.

λόγος here is presumably the message spoken by the first preacher to the Colossians, apparently Epaphras, Col 1:7. Compare Act 15:7; Mat 13:19. Contrast ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, Col 1:25 note.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5.] on account of (not to be joined with εὐχαριστ. as Beng., Eadie, al.: for, as Mey., the ground of such thanksgiving is ever in the spiritual state of the person addressed, see Rom 1:8; 1Co 1:4 ff.; Eph 1:15 &c., and this can hardly (against Eadie) be said to be of such a kind: but with ἢν ἔχετε—so Chr.: τοῦτο πρὸς τοὺς πειρασμούς, ὥστε μὴ ἐνταῦθα ζητεῖν τὴν ἄνεσιν. ἵνα γὰρ μή τις εἴπῃ· καὶ τί τὸ κέρδος τῆς ἀγάπης τῆς εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους κοπτομένων αὐτῶν; χαίρωμεν, φησίν, ὅτι μεγάλα ἑαυτοῖς προξενεῖτε ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. So also Calvin, who combats the argument of Est., al., deriving support for the idea of meritorious works from this verse. It is obvious that we must not include τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν in the reference, as Grot., Olsh., De W., al., have done: for πίστις ἐν χ. Ἰ. cannot be referred to any such motive: besides, see ver. 8, where he returns again to τὴν ἀγάπην) the hope (on the objective sense of ἐλπίς, see reff.) which is laid up (Kypke quotes Plut. Cæs. p. 715—κοινὰ ἆθλα τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας παρʼ αὐτῷ φυλασσόμενα ἀποκεῖσθαι, and Jos. B. J. ii. 8. 11,—ταῖς μὲν ἀγαθαῖς (ψυχαῖς) τὴν ὑπὲρ ὠκεανὸν δίαιταν ἀποκεῖσθαι) for you in the heavens (reff.), of which ye heard (aorist, referring to the time when it was preached among them) before (not, before this letter was written, as Beng., and usually: nor, as Mey., before ye had the hope: nor, as De Wette, al., before the hope is fulfilled: nor exactly as Eadie, ‘have (see above) already heard:’ but ‘before,’ in the absolute indefinite sense which is often given to the idea of priority,—‘ere this’—olim, aliquando) in (as part of) the word of the truth (no hendiadys) of the Gospel (the word or preaching whose substance was that truth of which the Gospel is the depository and vehicle),

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5. διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα. The Greek comm. and most moderns connect this with the words immediately preceding, “the love which ye have to all the saints.” ἀγαπᾶτέ, φησι, τοὺς ἁγίους οὐ διά τι ἀνθρώπινον ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἐλπίζειν τὰ μέλλοντα ἀγαθά, Theoph. The reasons alleged are—(1) the remoteness of εὐχαριστοῦμεν; (2) the following clause,ἣν προηκούσατε, suggests that the words διὰ τῆν ἐλπίδα describe the motives of the Colossians for welldoing, rather than the reasons of the apostle for thanksgiving; (3) in other Epistles the ground of thanksgiving is the spiritual state of the persons addressed; (4) εὐχαριστεῖν is never used with διά in the N.T.; and (5) the connexion with εὐχ. would break up the triad of graces which St. Paul delights in associating together. (So Meyer, Soden, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot.) (1), (2), (5) are considered by Lightfoot decisive. Yet surely there is something strange in assigning the future hope as the motive of Christian love. As Eadie observes, if the apostle had said that they loved one another because of the common hope which they had in heaven, or that this prospect of a joint inheritance deepened their attachments, the meaning might have been easily apprehended; but why the hope in itself should be selected as the prop of such love, we know not. Of all the graces, love has the least of self in its nature. Such passages as 2Co 9:6, Gal 6:9 f. are not analogous; for what creates a difficulty is not the mention of expected reward as a motive for action, but as a motive for love. As ἐλπίς here is not the grace of hope, but the object (τὴν ἀποκειμένην), reason (5) loses its force; as ἐλπίς does not mean the same thing as in 1Th 1:3, for example, it is quite natural that it should fall into a different connexion. Nor does there seem to be much weight in the second reason. The words ἣν προηκούσατε, κ.τ.λ., involve an appeal to the first teaching they had received, which was sound and full. This goes very well with εὐχαριστοῦμεν; but if the hope were described as the motive of their love, what appropriateness would there be in referring to their former instruction in it? As to (3) and (4), the clause ἀκούσαντες does imply that the ground of his thanksgiving was their faith and love; but it is consistent with this that what prompted him to feel thankful for these graces was the thought of the hope laid up for them, and hence with this connexion διά is not only admissible, but is alone suitable. The signification of εὐχαριστεῖν ὑπέρ (1Co 10:30; Eph 5:20) is not that required here. There is good reason, then, for Bengel’s interpretation: “ex spe patet, quanta sit causa gratias agendi pro dono fidei et amoris.” If ἣν ἔχετε be omitted the connexion with ἀγάπην is grammatically harsh.

Estius, De Wette, Olshausen, and others connect διὰ τὴν ἐλπ. with both πίστιν and ἀγάπην. This connexion is certainly awkward, and the sentiment not Pauline. Theodore Mops. connects the words with προσευχόμενοι.

ἐλπίς is clearly objective, as in Rom 8:24; Gal 5:5.

τὴν ἀποκειμένην. The thought of the “hope,” i.e. the blessing hoped for, being already prepared is not expressed in this form by St. Paul elsewhere, except perhaps 1Ti 6:19, but is clearly put in 1Pe 1:4, κληρονομίαν … τετηρημένην ἐν οὐρανοῖς. In substance it is involved in Php 3:20, and, indeed, in Mat 6:20.

ἣν προηκούσατε. The προ- has reference, according to Meyer, to the future fulfilment. Bengel understands it simply as “antequam scriberem,” but the context rather suggests that the reference is to their early teaching in contrast to the later errors. The apostle now is not teaching them anything new, but desires to confirm them in the true doctrine which they had already learned. Compare vv. 7, 23 and 5:6. Hence also the mention of the truth of the gospel in the following words:—

ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῆς ἀληθείας τοῦ εὐαγγελίου. That εὐαγγελίου is the principal notion here is shown by the participle παρόντος, which agrees with it, and not with ἀληθείας. And this is confirmed by the connexion of ἐλπίς and εὐαγγέλιον in ver. 23. The genitive ἀληθείας then qualifies λόγος, and this compound notion is explained by εὐαγγ. ἡ ἀλ. τοῦ εὐαγγ., Gal 2:5, Gal 2:14, is not exactly parallel, because there the formula has a direct polemical purpose. Here the point is that ὁ λόγος τοῦ εὐαγγ. is a λόγος τῆς ἀληθείας in opposition to those false teachers who would fain complete it by their παραδόσεις, 2:8, which were κενὴ ἀπάτη.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the hope [δια την ελπιδα] . The A. V. connects with we give thanks (ver. 3). But the two are too far apart, and Paul 's introductory thanksgiving is habitually grounded on the spiritual condition of his readers, not on something objective. See Rom 1:8; 1Co 1:4; Eph 1:15. Better connect with what immediately precedes, love which ye have, and render as Rev., because of the hope, etc. Faith works by love, and the ground of their love is found in the hope set before them. Compare Rom 8:24. The motive is subordinate, but legitimate. "The hope laid up in heaven is not the deepest reason or motive for faith and love, but both are made more vivid when it is strong. It is not the light at which their lamps are lit, but it is the odorous oil which feeds their flame" [μαχλαρεν] . Hope. See on 1Pe 1:3. In the New Testament the word signifies both the sentiment of hope and the thing hoped for. Here the latter. Compare Tit 2:13; Gal 5:5; Heb 6:18; also Rom 8:24, where both meanings appear. Lightfoot observes that the sense oscillates between the subjective feeling and the objective realization. The combination of faith, hope, and love is a favorite one with Paul. See 1Th 1:3; 1Co 13:13; Rom 5:1 - 5; Rom 12:6 - 12.

Laid up [αποκειμενην] . Lit., laid away, as the pound in the napkin, Luk 19:20. With the derivative sense of reserved or awaiting, as the crown, 2Ti 4:8. In Heb 9:27, it is rendered appointed (unto men to die), where, however, the sense is the same : death awaits men as something laid up. Rev., in margin, laid up for. Compare treasure in heaven, Mt 6:20; Mt 19:21; Luk 12:34. "Deposited, reserved, put by in store out of the reach of all enemies and sorrows" (Bishop Wilson).

Ye heard before [προηκουσατε] . Only here in the New Testament, not in Septuagint, and not frequent in classical Greek. It is variously explained as denoting either an undefined period in the past, or as contrasting the earlier Christian teaching with the later heresies, or as related to Paul 's letter (before I wrote), or as related to the fulfillment of the hope (ye have had the hope pre - announced). It occurs several times in Herodotus in this last sense, as 2 5, of one who has heard of Egypt without seeing it : 5, 86, of the Aeginetans who had learned beforehand what the Athenians intended. Compare Col 8:79; Col 6:16. Xenophon uses it of a horse, which signifies by pricking up its ears what it hears beforehand. In the sense of mere priority of time without the idea of anticipation, Plato : "Hear me once more, though you have heard me say the same before" (" Laws, " 7, 797). I incline to the more general reference, ye heard in the past. The sense of hearing before the fulfillment of the hope would seem rather to require the perfect tense, since the hope still remained unfulfilled.

The word of the truth of the Gospel. The truth is the contents of the word, and the Gospel defines the character of the truth.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

5. διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα] ‘for the hope,’ i.e. looking to the hope. The following reasons seem decisive in favour of connecting διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα, not with εὐχαριστοῦμεν, but with τὴν πίστιν κ.τ.λ., whether ἣν ἔχετε be retained or not. (1) The great distance of εὐχαριστοῦμεν is against the former connexion; (2) The following clause, ἣν προηκοῦσατε κ.τ.λ., suggests that the words διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα describe the motives of the Colossians for well-doing, rather than the reasons of the Apostle for thanksgiving: (3) The triad of Christian graces, which St Paul delights to associate together, would otherwise be broken up. This last argument seems conclusive; see especially the corresponding thanksgiving in 1 Thess. i. 3, μνημονεῦοντες ὑμῶν τοῦ ἔργου τῆς πίστεως καὶ τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ τῆς ὑπομονῆς τῆς ἐλπίδος κ.τ.λ., with the note there. The order is the same here, as there; and it is the natural sequence. Faith rests on the past; love works in the present; hope looks to the future. They may be regarded as the efficient, material, and final causes respectively of the spiritual life. Compare Polycarp Phil. 3 πίστιν ἥτις ἐστὶ μήτηρ πάντων ἡμῶν, ἐπακολουθούσης τῆς ἐλπίδος, προαγούσης τῆς ἀγάπης.

The hope here is identified with the object of the hope: see the passages quoted on Gal. v. 5. The sense of ἐλπίς, as of the corresponding words in any language, oscillates between the subjective feeling and the objective realisation; comp. Rom. viii. 24 τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν· ἐλπὶς δὲ βλεπομένη οὐκ ἔστιν ἐλπίς· ὃ γὰρ βλέπει τις κ.τ.λ., where it passes abruptly from the one to the other.

J. B. Lightfoot, St Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon: a revised text with introductions, notes and dissertations (London: Macmillan, 1875) — public domain. Electronic text from Project Gutenberg (ebook #50857). Covers Colossians and Philemon only (the verse-by-verse notes; introductions and dissertations are omitted); Lightfoot's companion Galatians and Philippians volumes are not included, as the available public-domain scans carry garbled Greek that cannot be faithfully reproduced.